Maheswary Velautham, the senior EPDP member, who was shot dead by an LTTE gunman last Tuesday, is the latest in a long list of EPDP activists who were assassinated by the Tigers.

At the time of her demise, she was the Eelam People’s Democratic Party representative of the APRC and an advisor to the EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda.

Execution

She was assassinated when she visited her ailing mother at her residence in Keerippalli, Jaffna. On that fateful Tuesday night, a gunman who turned up at her doorstep and shot her dead at point blank range.

Ms Velautham was a lawyer by profession and appeared on behalf of Tamil youth arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

She was born on July 17, 1953 at Karavetti in the Jaffna Vadamaarachchi area and received her education at Point Pedro North Hindu Ladies College.

In 1977 she joined the Tamil Refugees Rehabilitation Organization (TRRO), but was forced to flee to India after Black July in 1983.

Helping the refugees

She operated from Madurai and founded the Tamil Information Centre of which she was the founding Director. She also formed the Movement for Inter Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) in Tamil Nadu and provided medical assistance and counselling to Tamil refuges.

During the initial state of Tamil militancy, she supported the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO). Her brothers were also members of TELO.She returned to Sri Lanka in 1995 and joined the EPDP at the request of the EPDP leader Douglas Devananda.

She played a pivotal role, providing legal assistance to Tamil youth who were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and campaigned for justice for victims who had disappeared in the Jaffna peninsula. The last rites were performed last thursday in Colombo.